From Drenthe we took the train south into the province of Utrecht, where we stopped in the non-descript town of Ede. Our B&B was once again stellar, and our days in the area gave us some serious summer weather for Holland. When we weren’t out biking, we had the luxury of lounging in a gorgeous private garden, and eating in outdoor venues.
We spent one day biking a bit further south to Wageningen, a university city, a mere breath from the banks of the Dutch stretch of the Rhine. Perhaps more famously, the town is the site of the armistice reached between the Canadian liberators and the Germans in the area ending the second world war in the region. As there was significant war destruction, the city is largely new. At Rhenen, a much prettier town about 6 km west, there was damage at the onset of the German invasion at the beginning of the war as well as in the fierce battles that raged in this greater Arnhem area (see the film/book A Bridge Too Far, for more) in the final stages of the war. Nevertheless, the medieval church tower in Rhenen stands second highest in the country again—having been reconstructed during the war years and after the war, once again—. Our various trails skirt the Rhine, roam through shadowy forests and sandy fields, and pass through an array of neighborhoods as we return to Ede.
On our second outing we bike north to Otterlo, a tiny town at the western rim of the Hoge Veluwe Park. Once inside the park perimeter, we head straight to the renowned Kroller-Muller Museum and the exceptionally appointed sculpture garden around it. Beginning in the late teens, Helene Kroller Muller, an art historian, began collecting modern art work with the help of an advisor. She collected well over 10,000 works, amongst which an impressive amount of work by Van Gogh, which she initially purchased for a song. She dreamt of opening a museum, and eventually did open a section of what is presently the museum. After her death in 1939 the museum was eventually added to, and today the collection on view is a compilation of her original collection and subsequent donations and acquisitions. She had also begun the sculpture garden, but today that oevre has been greatly expanded and is an absolute gem, showcasing a great spectrum of work, some on the manicured lawns, others in clearings in the surrounding forest, and still other smaller works in a couple of different pavilions. The vast part of our day was spent wandering the museum and grounds, and we then backtracked on the bike trails through the Veluwe’s forests and sandy flats back to Ede.
Our final excursion was through the nearby countryside, criss-crossing through small country roads, bike trails, forest paths, and through the centers of small villages, ultimately revisiting Otterlo. Each day the weather became lovelier, and on this final day we returned home just a hair before the unleashing of a brief but heavy summer rainstorm!
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